Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to the field of electronics, and more specifically to a system and method of determining test coverage of a user interface.
Description of the Related Art
A computer program is a set of instructions that is executable by a computer system and, thus, transforms the computer system into a machine that performs specific tasks. The tasks are numerous including retrieving and storing data, performing calculations, and generating user interfaces. A computer program can include any type of code and data in any form (e.g. source code or object code). Computers rely upon computer programs to perform an almost limitless number of functions. Testing of a computer program helps ensure that the program causes the computer system to function as a specialized machine in accordance with design parameters. Ideally, computer program testing provides a comprehensive insight into the quality of the program by, for example, identifying errors and other issues that can detrimentally affect the program or the computer system executing the program.
Computer program testing “exercises” the computer program, i.e. executes the computer program. However, a particular test or suite of tests may not exercise all components of the computer program. In a computer program testing context, “code coverage” refers to the amount of code in a computer program that is exercised by a test or suite of computer program tests. Generally, computer systems do not execute computer programs completely linearly, i.e. the computer program is not executed from beginning to end. Accordingly, computer program tests may or may not comprehensively exercise the computer program. Failure to completely exercise the computer program can fail to identify problems with the computer program. Additionally, determining code coverage become even more difficult when a computer program is utilized on multiple software and hardware platforms.
Various testing products are available to test computer programs such as “TestComplete” and “TestExecute” by SmartBear Software of Massachusetts, USA. Test TestComplete is an open test platform for creating, maintaining, and executing automated tests for desktop, Web, mobile, and client-server software applications. TestExecute is a utility that allows testers to run TestComplete's automated tests and view test results on computers that do not have TestComplete installed.